This perspective of this book views Earth's various layers as a whole system and tries to
understand how to achieve harmony and sustainable development between human society and nature
with the theme of habitability of the Earth. This book is one effort at providing an overview
of some of the recent exciting advances Chinese geoscientists have made. It is the concerted
team effort of a group of researchers from diverse backgrounds to generalize their vision for
Earth science in the next 10 years. The book is intended for scholars administrators of the
Science and Technology policy department and science research funding agencies. This is an
open access book.
